Women who breastfeed for six months reduce their risk of dying of cancer by 10 per cent, a mass study suggests.

Research into the habits of nearly 380,000 people found that those who followed official lifestyle advice on cancer prevention – including limiting their alcohol – were able to reduce their chance of death from several major diseases by around a third.

The recommendations from the World Cancer Research Fund include advising women with children to breastfeed exclusively for at least six months. The study found that mothers who did so saw their cancer risk drop by 10 per cent, while their chance of death from circulatory disease fell by 17 per cent.

The WCRF cancer prevention advice includes: being as lean as possible without being underweight; being physically active for at least 30 minutes a day; limiting consumption of surgery drinks, salty foods, processed foods and red meat; eating plenty of vegetables, fruits and pulses; not smoking and limiting alcoholic drinks to two a day for men, and one for women.

The research, which examined the lifestyles of people from nine European countries, found that those who most closely followed all of the advice had a 50 per cent reduced chance of dying from respiratory disease, 44 per cent from circulatory disease and a 20 per cent reduced risk of death from cancer, when compared with those who had the “lowest compliance” with the advice.

The individual tips which had the greatest impact on reducing the risk of death from those diseases were being as lean as possible without becoming underweight (22 per cent reduced risk) and eating lots of vegetables, fruits and pulses (21 per cent).

In terms of cancer, limiting alcohol had the greatest effect, reducing the chance of death from cancer by 21 per cent.

Dr Teresa Norat, of Imperial College London, who led the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said it was the first research to show a strong association between the global recommendations from the WCRF and a reduced risk of death.

The study is also the first to examine the impact that breastfeeding can have in reducing the chance of death from specific diseases, when combined with other lifestyle changes.

Dr Panagiota Mitrou, the deputy head of science at WCRF, said: “This study demonstrates in real terms the value of the WCRF/AICR recommendations in preventing deaths from a range of common diseases, not just cancer.”

This month, a British survey of more than 2,500 mothers found that 96 per cent started weaning their children before six months. Of the three quarters of mothers who breastfed to some degree, 57 per cent gave up before their baby was three months old.